Government

County council approved the third and final reading of the 2 percent hospitality tax Monday night, and the new charges will start appearing on diners’ and drinkers’ tabs Jan. 1.
Council voted 6-1, with the opposing vote from Chairman Bob Bundy.
The 2 percent tax, the maximum allowed under state law, will apply to all establishments that sell prepared meals and beverages in the unincorporated areas of Lancaster County.
The money can be spent only on tourism-related projects.

After a two-hour hearing Monday, county council overturned the planning commission and approved Two Capital’s plans for a 300-unit Indian Land apartment complex.
The 6-1 vote, with only Jack Estridge opposed, rejects the planning commission’s concerns that the developer’s preferred exit point will pump hundreds more cars onto S.C. 160 too close to one of the Panhandle’s most congested intersections. The S.C. Department of Transportation had OKd the exit point, but the planning commission still refused to budge.

KERSHAW – Kershaw Town Council unanimously named Mitch Lucas town administrator this week, six months after he stepped into the job on an interim basis when the previous administrator left in a rush.
This continues Lucas’ long-running service to Kershaw. He was a town council member from 1987-97 and mayor from April 1999 to June 2000. He retired in 2008 as the human resources director for the Lancaster County School District.

An Indian Land apartment development twice rejected by the Lancaster County Planning Commission will take its case directly to county council members Monday night, asking them to overrule the planning board.
The council will hear an appeal from Two Capital, which wants to build 313 apartments at the intersection of S.C. 160 and Calvin Hall Road.
The planning commission denied Two Capital’s plan because of traffic and architectural design issues, both in violation of the Unified Development Ordinance, according to Jerry Holt, the commission’s vice chair.

U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney campaigned with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott over the weekend, telling about 100 supporters at an Indian Land fundraiser that his opponent, Fran Person, is an unknown quantity to most Fifth District voters.
“The guy has raised almost a million dollars. Nobody knows who he is, not even any Democrats around here know who he is, but he’s sitting on a giant stash of money,” said Mulvaney, a three-term Republican. “We expect to see all of that money dumped into negative ad campaigns in the last 30 days.”

Need to pay your Lancaster utility bill, report a mammoth pothole, apply for a city job or scope out festival details?
There’s now an app for that.
City IT director Jarvis Driggers presented the Red Rose City’s new mobile app at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“This is a living and breathing app,” Driggers said. “This app’s going to change. It’s going to change daily, weekly and monthly, and it’s going to change to the events and what’s going on in the city at the time.”

The Lancaster County Council voted Monday night to place the on-again, off-again Avondale development ordinance back on the agenda for its Sept. 26 meeting.
Support is coming from those who previously opposed the 189-acre mixed-use development, located between Calvin Hall and Harrisburg roads.
The flip-flop of support comes from frustrated residents in Indian Land who see the development’s offer as their only chance for road and traffic improvements.

The town of Kershaw will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday about the town council’s decision last month to cut down four 100-year-old oak trees at the intersection of North Matson and East Marion streets.
Kershaw mayor Mark Dorman called the trees a sticky subject.
“This is something town officials clearly see both sides of,” Dorman said. “We’re supposed to represent all our citizens, which is why we need their input before going forward.”

COLUMBIA – Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell of Lancaster is among 14 S.C. House members on a special tax-reform committee appointed Tuesday by House Speaker Jay Lucas.
Norrell, a Democrat whose 44th District includes Lancaster, Heath Springs and Kershaw, will serve on the bipartisan panel, which will review the S.C. tax code and make recommendations to Lucas for changes before the next legislative session.

Public concerns over the county’s new Unified Development Ordinance and Official Zoning Map has resulted in at least another month being added to the already 19-month-long rewriting process for the UDO.
More than 75 people, most from the Elgin community, attended the UDO public hearing Tuesday night to voice their concerns about the ordinance’s Environmental Hazardous Overlay District, which they fear will restrict their land use. Many addressed the Planning Commission during the citizens’ comments portion in the four-hour meeting.